Endowments

Investing in Academic Excellence

Endowments are a time-honored method for supporting and building academic programs. They provide a stable funding for the university from investment income and foster academic excellence. Endowments enable UC Davis to recruit and retain the best faculty who in turn will attract other top faculty and students.

Endowments can support various purposes, such as Faculty Chairs, Research Awards, Graduate Teaching Scholar Funds, Undergraduate Scholarships, Undergraduate Lab Course, and more. Endowments are a chance to get creative and support a specific area of interest.

Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences Series

Endowment established in 1960

About the endowment

The Tracy and Ruth Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences is an endowed lectureship established in 1960 to bring eminent biologists from other institutions to interact with the academic community at UC Davis. The lectureship generally sponsors three speakers in an academic year. Each speaker visits the campus for three days and presents two public lectures.

David L. Weaver Endowed Lecture in Biophysics

Annual lectureship established in 2006

About the endowment

Through a generous donation in December 2006, Elena B. Weaver and her sons, Timothy D. Weaver, Christopher P. Weaver, and Ash P. Weaver endowed the David L. Weaver Lectures in Biophysics and Computational Biology in the College of Biological Sciences. The series honors the memory of a husband and father, David L. Weaver, who was a prominent biophysics researcher and professor at Tufts University.

As an active researcher, Dr. Weaver was impressed with the research and faculty at the UC Davis Genome Center. He planned to spend his sabbatical year, 2006-2007, working at the Genome Center with Professor Yong Duan, conducting research in protein folding. When Dr. Weaver suddenly passed away before his sabbatical began, his wife and children wanted to ensure that the UC Davis scientific community could benefit from his knowledge and passion for research, and they created this endowed lectureship.

Novozymes Endowed Chair in Genomics

Established in 2004

About the endowment

The Novozymes Endowed Chair in Genomics supports research, teaching and service activities of the UC Davis Genome Center, and is held by the concurrent director of the Genome Center.

Current chairholder

Paul K. and Ruth R. Stumpf Endowed Professor of Plant Biochemistry

Established in 1999

About the endowment

The Paul K. and Ruth R. Stumpf Endowed Professorship supports teaching and research in plant biochemistry. The appointee is a full professor in the College of Biological Sciences in either the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology or the Department of Plant Biology, and holds the appointment for five to seven years.

Past Endowed Professors

Barbara A. Horwitz and John M. Horowitz Endowed Chair in Physiology

Established in 2004

About the endowment

The Barbara A. Horwitz and John M. HorowitzEndowed Chair in Physiology is to be held by a faculty member of the College of Biological Sciences engaged in physiological research (non-plant, non-microbial). The initial appointee will be in the Section of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and will hold the appointment for 5 years. The endowment will support the chair holder's research, teaching, and service activities.

Current Endowed Chair

Past Endowed Professors

John Wingfield
Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowed Chair in Evolution and Ecology

Established in 2011

About the endowment

The Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowed Chair is a tenured faculty member and nationally-recognized scholar in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, with a specialty in any area encompassed by the department, including but not necessarily limited to evolution, ecology, bioinformatics and genomics.

The endowment may be used to support the chair's efforts in research, teaching, service and salary to support of the mission of the Department of Evolution and Ecology and the campus.

Robert Osborne was a member of the class of 1926. Osborne worked for Knudsen Creameries, one of the largest dairy manufacturing and distribution companies in the United States. Osborne rose through the company ranks to become president, chief executive officer and board chair. A longtime campus supporter, Osborne served as a UC Davis Foundation trustee from 1967 to 1980 and was a charter and life member of the UC Davis Chancellor's Club and a life member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association.

Current Endowed Professor

Joel Keizer Endowed Chair in Theoretical and Computational Biology

Established in 2012

About the endowment

To honor the late Joel Keizer (1942-1999) and his contributions to science, his wife Susan—together with former colleagues, friends and the University of California, Davis—created the Joel Keizer Endowed Chair in Computational and Theoretical Biology. This endowed chair honors and will continue Dr. Keizer's cooperative approach to scientific research, specifically in the field of computational and theoretical biology.

The Joel Keizer Endowed Chair enhances UC Davis's strength in theoretical approaches to biological problems. It will support collaborative, interdisciplinary work in the life sciences and provides permanent support to theoretical research. The increasingly diverse questions of modern biology must be addressed via interdisciplinary collaboration. With staggeringly complex data emerging from new research methods, simple observation no longer is sufficient to identify and understand patterns and processes. A sound theoretical framework and strong computational methods are integral to predicting new directions for experiments and analyzing results.

Current Endowed Professor

The Joel Keizer Endowed Chair is currently vacant.

Past Endowed Professors

Dennis Walker Fund for the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

Established in 2014

About the endowment

This endowment was established by Dennis K. Walker, who received both his masters and postdoctoral degrees in Botany from UC Davis, to support student employment at the UC Davis greenhouse within the College of Biological Sciences.

Barbara Chapman Neuroscience Award

Established in 2014

About the endowment

This Award, created by the Stone-Chapman Family, honors the outstanding contributions that Barbara Chapman made to neuroscience research, graduate and professional students, and the University community.

It provides support to one or more UC Davis neuroscience graduate student(s) to attend conferences, workshops, courses, and formal or informal practical training or internship opportunities to advance their knowledge and skills applicable to their thesis research.

By the Numbers

40% of students at UC Davis are first-generation college students

UC Davis is first in the nation for launching women into STEM careers

75% of freshmen in the College of Biological Sciences qualify for financial need